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BCP Social Sciences & Humanities SSMI 2022
Volume 17 (2022) 
 

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Analysis of Factors Influencing Satisfaction with Public 
Services in Health Care: An Empirical Study Based on CGSS 

Data 

Wenjing Tang 
School of History and Politics, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China. 

540693065@qq.com 

Abstract: Medical and health public services are closely related to citizens' lives and have always 
been widely concerned about people's livelihood. With the rapid development of domestic economy 
and society, the public's pursuit of health is also increasing, and the demand for medical and health 
public services has also taken diversified forms. The public's demand for the quality of medical and 
health public services provided by the government is also getting higher and higher. Therefore, how 
to improve public satisfaction with public health care services has become a popular topic of current 
research. This paper uses the method of empirical research to conduct a multiple linear regression 
analysis of the factors influencing satisfaction with health care public services based on CGSS data 
by using the main influencing variables including herd mentality, public perception of the 
government's responsibility to provide health care services, health state, medical insurance 
participation, family economic status, public social status, and age. On this basis, the actual influence 
effect is standardized and budgeted to provide directions and ideas for improving the satisfaction of 
health care public services. 

Keywords: Health care; Public service satisfaction; Influencing factors.  

1. Introduction  

The "Health China Plan for 2030 " is the first medium- and long-term strategic plan in the field of 
health proposed at the national level since the founding of China. In the Health China Strategy, it 
establishes the "big health concept" that "focus on health promotion" and proposes a comprehensive 
and scientific measurement of the performance of medical and health public services. It is an 
important prerequisite for the implementation of the Health China Strategy. Therefore, solving the 
problems of health care and strengthening social security has become the focus of the current 
government work. In the process of building a service-oriented government that satisfies the people, 
public satisfaction has increasingly become an important decision basis for the government's health 
care public service reform, and public satisfaction with health care public services has become an 
important indicator to measure whether the government is seriously implementing the Health China 
Strategy. It is also the main purpose of improving medical security construction in China. The state 
of satisfaction with public health services reflects the gap between the public's perception of the 
quality of public health services and their expectation. When the perception is consistent with the 
expectation, the public becomes satisfied, and when the perception is inconsistent with the 
expectation, the public becomes dissatisfied. In order to better promote the development of China's 
health care public services, it is necessary to enhance public satisfaction with health care public 
services, improve China's health care public service system, and implement the Health China Strategy.  

2. Literature Review  

2.1 Foreign Studies on the Analysis of Factors Influencing Satisfaction with Public Services in 
Health Care  

The study of satisfaction with health care public services has been quite well established by foreign 
scholars, such as JohnWare, who is a leading researcher in the study of satisfaction with health care 
public services. He divided the satisfaction with health care public services into eight areas: 



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interpersonal style, technical quality, barriers or convenience, financial, efficacy or outcome, 
continuity, physical environment and accessibility for research. The study by Khayat et al. concluded 
that social status has a significant influence on satisfaction with health care public services, and 
individuals with higher social status have access to higher quality health care resources, thus 
enhancing satisfaction indicators with health care public services. The research literature by Sehutz 
et al. found a significant positive relationship between age and health care satisfaction, with older 
patients having higher satisfaction with health care public services than younger patients.  

2.2 Domestic Studies on the Analysis of Factors Influencing Satisfaction with Public Services 
in Health Care  

Domestic scholars have also conducted studies on satisfaction with health care public services. By 
constructing a multi-level structural Model, Zhang Jun concluded that rural public satisfaction with 
health care public services is a progressive, hierarchical relationship, and Tang Lilijuan concluded 
through micro data analysis that whether or not to participate in medical insurance is an important 
factor affecting satisfaction with health care public services. Xu Ning et al. concluded that education 
level and family economic status are important factors influencing satisfaction with health care public 
services. However, the current research does not take into account the influence of two factors: herd 
mentality and the public's perception of the government's responsibility to provide health care 
services. This paper attempts to analyze the public's satisfaction with health care public services in 
China, to analyze the factors influencing the satisfaction with health care public services provided by 
the government, and to put forward some rationalized suggestions in response to the research results. 
It aims to contribute to the improvement of satisfaction with public health care services in China.  

3. Data Sources and Variable Measurements  

3.1 Data Sources  

A total of 10,986 valid questionnaires from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) were used 
as the data source for this paper. The CGSS is the first nationwide, comprehensive and continuous 
large-scale social survey project in China. The purpose is to collect data on Chinese people and 
Chinese society on a regular and systematic basis, to summarize long-term trends in social change 
and explore social issues of great theoretical and practical significance. And it aims to promote the 
openness and sharing of domestic social science research, and provide data for government decision-
making and international comparative research. The CGSS is jointly executed by Renmin University 
of China and academic institutions across the country. Since 2003, CGSS has been conducted 
annually on a sample of more than 10,000 households across the country. It has a strict and scientific 
sampling, and the data is very representative and can truly reflect the real situation of the respondents.  

3.2 Variable Measurement  

3.2.1 Independent Variables  

The core independent variables of this paper are herd mentality, public perception of government 
responsibility for providing health care, health state, participation in health insurance, family 
economic status, public social status, and age. For herd mentality, the indicator chosen for this paper 
is: According to your general impression, how often do you hold views and opinions on important 
matters that are consistent with those of the general society? The question is B3, and the options are: 
1 - very little agreement, 2 - little agreement, 3 - average agreement, 4 - much agreement, 5 – very 
much agreement. Public perceptions of the government's responsibility to provide health care services 
are selected based on the following indicators: In general, do you think the government should or is 
responsible for providing health insurance for all? The question in the questionnaire is B142. The 
options for the question are: 1- absolutely not/ absolutely no responsibility, 2- probably not/ probably 
no responsibility, 3- probably should/ probably have responsibility, 4- absolutely responsibility. The 



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indicator selected for health state is: What do you think is your current physical health state? The 
questionnaire item is A15, and the options are: 1 - very unhealthy, 2 - relatively unhealthy, 3 - average, 
4 - relatively healthy, 5 - very healthy. Medical insurance participation selected indicators are: Do 
you participate in the basic urban medical insurance/new rural cooperative medical insurance/public 
health care? The question in the questionnaire is A166, and the corresponding options are: 0-No, 1- 
Yes. The indicator selected for family economic status is: What is your family economic status in your 
location? The corresponding question is A64, and the options are: 1 - far below average, 2 - below 
average, 3 - average, 4 - above average, 5 - far above average. The indicator chosen for public social 
status is: Compared to your peers, what do you think of your own socioeconomic status? The question 
is B1, and the options are: 1 - lower, 2 - average, 3 - higher. Indicator of age selection is: What is your 
date of birth? The corresponding question is A301 and the options are: 2015 - year of birth.  

3.2.2 Control Variables  

In this paper, happiness, gender, income, political status, household registration type, ethnic group, 
marital state, and educational level are selected as control variables, and for happiness, gender, 
income, political status, household registration type, ethnic group, marital state, and educational level 
the data are processed. For happiness, 1-very unhappy, 2-comparatively unhappy, 3-not to say happy 
or unhappy, 4-comparatively happy, and 5-very unhappy are processed; for gender, 1-male and 0-
female; for income, a continuous variable is used for treatment. For political status, 0-non-party 
member, 1-party member to be processed. For household registration type, 0-rural, 1-urban to process. 
For ethnic group, 0-Non-Han, 1-Han to process. For marital state, 0-not in marriage, 1-in marriage to 
be processed. For education level, 0 - no education at all, 3 - literacy class, 6 - elementary school, 9 - 
junior high school, 13 - vocational high school, 12 - general high school, 13 - junior college, 13 - 
technical school, 14 - specialized adult higher education, 15 - specialized higher education, 16 - 
undergraduate adult higher education, 17 - undergraduate higher education, 20 - postgraduate and 
above to be processed.  

3.2.3 Dependent Variables  

Government job satisfaction has a special module in CGSS - B module, where B151 stands for 
satisfaction with environmental governance (Are you satisfied with the government's performance in 
the following areas? -providing medical services to patients), and after data processing its measure 
becomes: 1 - very dissatisfied, 2 - dissatisfied, 3 - average, 4 - satisfied, 5 - very satisfied.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



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Table.1 Variable measurement 

Variable type Variable name Measurement question items Measurement 

Dependent 
variables 

Satisfaction with 
government health 
care governance 

Are you satisfied with the 
government's performance in the 

following areas? --Providing medical 
services to patients 

1-Very dissatisfied 
2-Dissatisfied 

3-Average 
4-Satisfactied 

5-Very satisfied 

Independent 
variables 

Herd mentality 

According to your general impression, 
how often do you hold views and 

opinions on important matters that are 
consistent with those of the general 

society? 

1-very little agreement 
2-little agreement 

3-average agreement 
4-much agreement  

5-very much agreement. 

Public perception of 
the government's 
responsibility to 

provide health care 
services 

In general, do you think the 
government should or is responsible for 

providing health insurance for all? 

1- absolutely not/ absolutely no 
responsibility, 

2- probably not/ probably no 
responsibility 

3- probably should/ probably 
have responsibility 

4- absolutely responsibility. 

Health State 
What do you think is your current 

physical health state? 

1 - very unhealthy 
2 - relatively unhealthy 

3 – average 
4 - relatively healthy  

5 - very healthy 

Medical insurance 
participation 

Do you participate in the basic urban 
medical insurance/new rural 

cooperative medical insurance/public 
health care? 

0 - No 
1 - Yes 

Family economic 
status 

What is your family economic status in 
your location? 

1-Far below average 
2 - Below average 

3 - Average 
4 - Above average 

5 – Far above average 

Public social status 
Compared to your peers, what do you 

think of your own socioeconomic 
status 

1-Lower 
2-Average 
3-Higher 

Age What is your date of birth? 2015 - year of birth 

Control 
variables 

Happiness 
Overall, do you think you are happy in 

your life? 

1 - Very unhappy 
2-Comparatively unhappy 

3- Not to say happy or unhappy 
4 - comparatively happy 

5 - Very unhappy 

Gender What is your gender? 
0 - Female 
1 - Male 

Income 
What was your personal total income 

of last year (2014)? 
Continuous Variables 

Political status What is your current political status? 
0-Non-party member 

1-Party member 
Household 

registration Type 
What is your household registration 

type? 
0 - Rural 
1 - City 

Ethnic group What is your ethnic group? 
0- Non-Han 

1 - Han 

Marital State What is your current marital state? 
0-not in marriage 
1 - In marriage 

Education level 
What is your current highest level of 

education? 
3 - No or little literacy 

6-Primary School 

3.3  Descriptive Statistics  

The descriptive statistics of all the variables involved in this study are shown in the following table.  



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Table.2 Descriptive statistics of variables 

Variables 
Average 

value 
Standard 
deviation 

Maximum 
value 

Minimum 
value 

Quantity 

Satisfaction with government health 
care governance 

3.3664 .9072 5 1 9668 

Herd mentality 3.6201 .7197 5 1 9668 
Public perception of the government's 
responsibility to provide health care 

services 
3.6690 .5235 4 1 9668 

Health State 3.6187 1.0677 5 1 9668 
Medical insurance participation .91436 .27985 1 0 9668 

Family economic status 2.6666 .7118 5 1 9668 
Public social status 1.7213 .5469 3 1 9668 

Age 50.3212 16.6491 94 18 9668 
Happiness 3.8782 .8105 5 1 9668 

Gender .4788 .4996 1 0 9668 
Income 3.3542 21.2869 999.999 0 9668 

Political status .1076 .3099 1 0 9668 
Household registration type .5875 .4923 1 0 9668 

Ethnic group .9235 .2659 1 0 9668 
Marital State .7841 .4114 1 0 9668 

Education level 5.3849 3.6927 20 0 9668 

Through the results of descriptive statistics, we can find that the happiness of the public in this 
selected sample is at a moderate to high level. There are about the same number of men as there are 
women, and earnings are at an above-average level. The political status is basically dominated by the 
number of non-party members. The number of household registration type in urban areas exceeds the 
number in rural areas. Ethnic group is mainly Han. 70% to 80% of the people are in the state of 
marriage. The survey was conducted mainly among middle-aged people, with the youngest individual 
being 18 years old and the oldest being 93 years old. The average education level is in junior high 
school. From the descriptive analysis, the average value of satisfaction with government health care 
governance is 3.36626, which indicates that people's satisfaction with government health care 
governance is at a medium to high level. The average number of herd mentality is 3.62019, which 
implies that people's views and opinions on some important matters are more than the general level 
when they agree with the society at large. The average value of public perception of the government's 
responsibility to provide health care services is 3.669011, with a maximum value of 4 and a minimum 
value of 1, indicating that the vast majority of people believe that the government should or is 
responsible for providing health insurance for all. 

4. Regression Results 

According to the research design, the following eight regression models are developed in this paper, 
and the results of the regression analysis are shown in the following table. 

According to the regression results of Model 1, the regression coefficient of followership is 
0.0622993, and the p-value is less than 0.01, so it can be concluded that followership has a significant 
positive effect on government health care governance satisfaction. When the herd mentality increases 
by one unit, the satisfaction to government health care management increases by 0.0622993 units. 

According to the regression results of Model 2, it can be seen that the regression coefficient of the 
public's perception of the government's responsibility to provide healthcare services is -0.0458914, 
and the p-value is less than 0.01, so it can be concluded that the public's perception of the 
government's responsibility to provide healthcare services has a significant negative effect on the 
government's satisfaction with healthcare governance. Each unit increase in the public's perception 



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of the government's responsibility for providing health care services decreases 0.0458914 units of 
satisfaction with government health care governance. 

 
Table.3 Regression results 

Variables Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5 Model 6 Model 7 Model 8 

Herd mentality 
.0623**

* 
(4.94) 

      
.0600**

* 
(4674) 

Public erception of 
the government's 
responsibility to 

provide health care 
services 

 
-.0459**

* 
(-2.67) 

     
-.0535** 
(-3.11) 

Health State   
.0041 
(0.46) 

    
.0154 
(1.20) 

Medical insurance 
participation 

   
.1452**

* 
(4.49) 

   
.1309**

* 
(4.04) 

Family economic 
status 

    
.0462** 
(3.43) 

  
.0154 
(1.00) 

Public social status      
.0772**

* 
(4.48) 

 
.0580** 
(2.95) 

Age       
.0027**

* 
(4.38) 

.0027**
* 

(4.17) 

Happiness 
.1342**

* 
(11.94) 

.1415**
* 

(12.67) 

.1397**
* 

(12.16) 

.1385**
* 

(12.39) 

.1293**
* 

(11.08) 

.1274**
* 

(11.02) 

.1401**
* 

(12.54) 

.1146**
* 

(9.54) 

Gender 
-.0358* 
(-1.96) 

-
0.3782*

* 
(-2.07) 

 

-.0389** 
(-2.13) 

-.0372** 
(-2.04) 

-.0383** 
(-2.10) 

-.0393** 
(-2.15) 

-.0373** 
(-2.04) 

-.0352** 
(-1.97) 

Income 
-.0049 
(-0.65) 

-.0003 
(-0.70) 

-.0003 
(-0.70) 

-.0003* 
(-0.66) 

-.0004* 
-0.83 

-.0004 
(-0.84) 

-.0002 
(-0.56) 

-.0003 
(-0.68) 

Political status 
-.0049 
(-0.16) 

.0050 
(0.17) 

.0038 
(0.13) 

-.0029 
(-0.10) 

-.0066 
(-0.22) 

-.0094 
(-0.32) 

-.0182 
(-0.60) 

-.0429** 
(-1.41) 

Household 
registration type 

-.2965**
* 

(-15.57) 

-.2993**
* 

(-15.71) 

-.3017**
* 

(-15.81) 

-.2968**
* 

(-15.58) 

-.3036**
* 

(-15.94) 

-.3037**
* 

(-15.96) 

-.3012**
* 

(-15.83) 

-.2950**
* 

(-15.46) 

Ethnic group 
-.0675** 
(-1.99) 

-.0645* 
(-1.90) 

-.0671** 
(-1.98) 

-.0672** 
(-1.98) 

-.0707** 
(-2.08) 

-.0716** 
(-2.11) 

-.0712** 
(-2.10) 

-.0755** 
(-2.23) 

Marital State 
-.0280 
(-1.26) 

-.0246 
(-1.11) 

-.0239 
(-1.08) 

-.0333 
(-1.50) 

-.0276 
(-1.24) 

-.0269 
(-1.22) 

-.0256 
(-1.16) 

-.0419* 
(-1.89) 

Education level 
-.0194**

* 
(7.73) 

-.0194**
* 

(-7.69) 

-.0198**
* 

(-7.72) 

-.0195**
* 

(-7.76) 

-.0207**
* 

(-.02065
83) 

-.0202**
* 

(-8.03) 

-.0137**
* 

(-4.80) 

-
0146*** 
(-5.11) 

Constant term 
3.0019*

** 
(42.45) 

3.3633*
** 

(40.06) 

3.1936*
** 

(52.69) 

3.0831*
** 

(48.37) 

3.1382*
** 

(51.51) 

3.1347*
** 

(52.32) 

3.0433*
** 

(44.539) 

2.8374*
** 

(27.13) 
R2 0.0556 0.0539 0.0532 0.0543 0.0543 0.0551 0.0551 0.0619 
N 9668 9668 9668 9668 9668 9668 9668 9668 

Note: *P<0.1, **P<0.05, ***P<0.01, value t is in bracket 



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According to the regression results of Model 3, it can be seen that the regression coefficient of 
health state is 0.0041004 and the p-value is greater than 0.1, so it can be concluded that health state 
has little effect on government satisfaction with health care governance. 

According to the regression results of Model 4, the regression coefficient of whether to participate 
in health insurance is 0.1452443, and the p-value is less than 0.01, so it can be concluded that whether 
to participate in health insurance has a significant positive effect on the satisfaction of government 
health care governance, and each unit increase in whether to participate is 0.1452443 units higher for 
the satisfaction of government health care governance. 

According to the regression results of Model 5, the regression coefficient of family economic status 
is 0.0462279, and the p-value is less than 0.01, so it can be concluded that family economic status 
has a significant positive effect on satisfaction with government health care governance, and each 
unit increase in family economic status increases satisfaction with government health care governance 
by 0.0462279 units. 

According to the regression results of Model 6, the regression coefficient of public social status is 
0.077216, and the p-value is less than 0.01, so it can be concluded that public social status has a 
significant positive effect on satisfaction with government health care governance, and each unit 
increase in public social status increases satisfaction with government health care governance by 
0.0622993 units. 

According to the regression results of Model 7, it can be seen that the regression coefficient of age 
is 0.0027219 and the p-value is less than 0.01, so it can be concluded that age has a significant positive 
effect on satisfaction with government health care governance, and each unit increase in age raises 
satisfaction with government health care governance by 0.0027219 units. 

5. Conclusions and Policy Recommendations 

From the research results, the factors influencing the satisfaction of medical services are diverse 
and complex, and are affected by a series of social, economic, environmental and personal factors, 
which are the result of a multifactorial interaction. Therefore, improving the satisfaction of medical 
services is a long-term dynamic process and a difficult task. In this paper, we focus on two main 
factors: herd mentality and public perception of the government's responsibility to provide health care 
services, and provide further analysis and policy recommendations. 

Herd mentality has a positive effect on satisfaction with government-provided health care 
governance. The degree to people's views and opinions on important matters are consistent with those 
of the public is relatively high. People have community attributes, and public satisfaction with health 
care public services is often influenced by those around them. The asymmetry of information on 
health care public services can greatly affect the consensus of the public. The government should 
strengthen the propaganda of medical security, establish and improve the information propaganda 
mechanism of medical and health public services, and do a good job of propagating the policies of 
medical and health public services to guide the public to understand the government's medical 
security policies and medical security related initiatives. It is conducive to improving the public's 
awareness level of medical and health public services, and even more conducive to the 
implementation of medical security policies, and finally enhances the government's medical security 
governance performance. It will enhance the public's trust in the government's provision of public 
health care services, keep the public's expectations at an appropriate level, lead the direction of public 
opinion, establish the correct herd mentality, and increase public satisfaction with public health care 
services. 

The public's perception of the government's responsibility to provide health care services also has 
a positive effect on satisfaction with health care governance. The stronger the public's perception of 
the government's responsibility to provide health care services, the more the public will perceive 
health care coverage as the government's responsibility, and the more the public will rely on the 
various resources provided by the government when individuals need medical assistance. But 



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government-provided health care resources are often limited, so the stronger the public's perception 
of the government's responsibility to provide health care services, the more the government is 
perceived to be lacking in health care resources and services. Therefore, the government should 
promote the construction of the health care system, deepen the comprehensive reform of public 
hospitals, expand the pilot construction of national medical centers and regional medical centers, 
strengthen the construction of the doctor workforce, improve the capacity of public services in health 
care, and accelerate the construction of a graded diagnosis and treatment system. It is suggested to 
provide measures such as optimizing appointment diagnosis and treatment, strive to allow patients 
with major, urgent and difficult diseases to receive treatment as early as possible, increase the 
reimbursement ratio of basic medical insurance, and reduce the burden of patients' families. It is 
supposed to develop multi-channel and multi-body medical and health public services, support social 
medical services, and promote the standardized development of "Internet + medical and health public 
services". We should continue to promote the Health China Strategy, carry out patriotic health 
campaigns, enhance the government's responsibility for providing public health services, improve 
policies on medical resources and services and carry out vigorous initiatives to improve public 
satisfaction with public health services. 

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